"Do you know what's goin' to happen to me if Covington don't get here and beat this cook?"
"Happen to you?"
"Yes, me! These outlaws have put it up to me to win this bet for them."
"Well, Covington can beat anybody."
"But Covington isn't here yet."
"Not yet, but—" The young man smiled. "You're not frightened, are you?"
"Scared to death, that's all," acknowledged the other. Then when his employer laughed openly, he broke out at a white-heat. "Joke, eh? Well, you'd better have a good laugh while you can, because Humpy Joe's finish will be a ten-course dinner to what you'll get if Covington misses his train."
"How easily frightened you are!"
"Yes? Well, any time people start shooting shots I'm too big for this earth. The hole in a gun looks as big as a gas-tank to me."
"But nobody is going to shoot you!" exclaimed the mystified college man.